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Coronavirus
Naval Medical Research Center, or NMRC, has been on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 from the start and continues to provide scientific support to warfighters with the COVID-19 Health Action Response for Marines, a study known as CHARM.
CHARM began May 4 at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina.
Navy Cmdr. Carl Goforth, a nurse scientist at NMRC and associate investigator for the CHARM study, has been at the forefront of determining how COVID-19 affects large, at-risk training environments, such as Marine Corps recruit training. The primary focus of the research, she said, is to maintain maximum health while meeting graduation standards and requirements for recruits during the pandemic.
Goforth and the CHARM field research team, led by Navy Cmdr. Andrew Letizia, the NMRC's deputy director for infectious diseases, initiated a prospective study for recruits who will stand on the famed yellow footprints at Parris Island. The research team, which also includes three clinical laboratory officers and several hospital corpsmen, is mission-focused to support one of the Marine Corps' fundamental operations: making Marines.
The CHARM research team is boosting the Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Unit Parris Island with unique research expertise to help decrease the spread of COVID-19 at the recruit depot and return recruits to training as quickly and safely as possible.